Desertion
In military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning. "Absence Without Leave" (AWOL) can refer to either desertion or a temporary absence. Absence without leave In the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, military personnel will become AWOL ( ; U.S.: Absence Without Official LeaveManual For Courts-Martial United States, 1995 Edition, U.S. Government Printing Office (1995), Article 86, Absence without leave) or AWL (pronounced the same; U.K., Canada, and Australia: Absent Without Leave) when they are absent from their post without a valid pass or leave. The United States Marine Corps, United States Navy and United States Coast Guard generally refer to this as Unauthorized Absence, or "UA". Personnel are dropped from their unit rolls after 30 days and then listed as deserters; however, as a matter of U.S. military law, desertion is not measured by time away from the unit, but rather: * by leaving or remaining absent from their unit, organization, or place of duty, where there has been a determined intent to not return; * if that intent is determined to be to avoid hazardous duty or shirk contractual obligation; * if they enlist or accept an appointment in the same or another branch of service without disclosing the fact that they have not been properly separated from current service. People who are away for more than 30 days but return voluntarily or indicate a credible intent to return may still be considered AWOL. Those who are away for fewer than 30 days but can credibly be shown to have no intent to return (for example, by joining the armed forces of another country) may nevertheless be tried for desertion. In rare occasions, they may be tried for treason if enough evidence is found. In the United States, before the Civil War, deserters from the Army were flogged; while, after 1861, tattoos or branding were also adopted. The maximum U.S. penalty for desertion in wartime remains death, although this punishment was last applied to Eddie Slovik in 1945. No U.S. serviceman has received more than 18 months imprisonment for desertion or missing movement during the Iraq War.[http://www.nlgmltf.org/onWatch/Onwatch_xx-3_Jan_Feb_2009.pdf On Watch "AWOL in the Army, version 2.0", James M. Branum and updated by and Susan Bassein.] A service member who is AWOL/UA may be punished with non-judicial punishment (NJP), or by Court Martial under Article 86 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for repeat or more severe offenses. Also, "Missing Movement" is another term which is used to describe when a particular serviceman fails to arrive at the appointed time to deploy (or "move out") with his assigned unit, ship, or aircraft; in the United States military, it is a violation of the Article 87 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The offense is similar to AWOL, but considered more severe. Less severe is "Failure to Report"http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/opinions/1999Term/98-0825.htm, consisting of missing a formation, or failing to appear at an assigned place and time when so ordered. World War II Of the Germans who deserted the Wehrmacht, 15,000 men were executed. In June 1988 the Initiative for the Creation of a Memorial to Deserters came to life in Ulm. A central idea was, "Desertion is not reprehensible, war is". (See also German resistance) Order No. 270, dated August 16, 1941, was issued by Joseph Stalin. The order required superiors to shoot deserters on the spot.Text of Order No. 270 Their family members were subjected to arrest.Roberts, Geoffrey. Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN ), page 98 Order No. 227 directed that each Army must create "blocking detachments" (barrier troops) which would shoot "cowards" and fleeing panicked troops at the rear.Roberts, Geoffrey. Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN ), page 132 The Soviets executed 158,000 soldiers for desertion.Patriots ignore greatest brutality. The Sydney Morning Herald. August 13, 2007. Legal Status of Desertion in Cases of War Crime Under international law, ultimate "duty" or "responsibility" is not necessarily always to a "Government" nor to "a superior," as seen in the fourth of the Nuremberg Principles, which states: Although a soldier under direct orders, in battle, is normally not subject to prosecution for war crimes, there is legal language supporting a soldier's refusal to commit such crimes, in military contexts outside of immediate peril: In 1998, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights document called “Conscientious objection to military service, United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/77” recognized that “persons already performing military service may develop conscientious objections” while performing military service. This opens the possibility of desertion as a response to cases in which the soldier is required to perform crimes against humanity as part of his mandatory military duty. This principle was tested unsuccessfully in the case of U.S. Army deserter Jeremy Hinzman, which resulted in a Canadian federal court rejecting refugee status to a deserter invoking Nuremberg Article IV. See also * Conscientious Objector * Eddie Slovik * Mutiny * Treason Category:Military law Category:Crimes